By Dr. Joachim Scholz

Virtual influencers outperform their traditional counterparts on these six brand benefits

Virtual influencers are one of the newest and weirdest trends of influencer marketing. And I believe they will soon be critical for brands’ digital, social media, and metaverse strategies.

A vast spectrum of brands — from high-fashion (e.g., Prada, Gucci) to high-tech (e.g., Samsung) and from boutique labels (e.g., Left Hand LA, Off White) to household names (e.g., Nike, Crocks, Takis chips, In-N-Out Burger) — have already worked with computer-generated virtual influencers who do not exist in real life. With impressive results: Engagement rates of virtual influencers are up to 3.5 times higher than those of traditional influencers.

Virtual influencers also super-charge other influencer marketing trends such as long-term partnerships (because they don’t age) and specialization into niche markets (because they can be anything, including non-human characters). On a more macro level, virtual influencers have created their own NFTs and have already entered a proto-metaverse called Fortnite.

Something big is clearly happening here. Yet, few marketers have heard about virtual influencers, let alone have integrated virtual influencers into their brand engagement strategies.

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Continue reading here: 6 Reasons why virtual influencers will be essential for social media and metaverse strategies